Stallone starts filming Rocky - Jan 09, 1976 - HISTORY.com Stallone starts filming Rocky Publisher A+E Networks The classic rags-to-riches story got a macho spin in the Oscar-winning Rocky, which was written by its star, Sylvester Stallone, and began filming on this day in 1976. Stallone had his own rags-to-riches tale: Born in the gritty Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, he was a juvenile delinquent who was kicked out of a number of schools before he turned 15. After attending high school in Philadelphia and studying drama at the University of Miami, Stallone moved back to New York and later to Los Angeles, with dreams of becoming an actor. When the idea for Rocky came to him, Stallone was living in a seedy apartment in Hollywood with his wife and dog; he began writing scripts so that he would have better roles to play. According to a profile in the New York Times, published November 28, 1976, he wrote the entire Rocky script in a frenzied three and a half days.

After a long negotiation process, Stallone sold the script to the producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, on the condition that he play the lead character, the underdog boxer Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa, himself. His only previous leading role was in the low-budget flop The Lords of Flatbush (1974), and the producers had wanted to cast an actor with a higher profile, such as James Caan, Burt Reynolds or Ryan O’Neal. The inspiration for Rocky was a real-life fight between the world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and a little-known club fighter named Chuck Wepner. In March 1975, Wepner went 15 rounds against Ali in a title bout in Cleveland, Ohio; he had been such a big underdog before the fight that Sports Illustrated ran his picture on their cover with the headline “Boxing’s Strange Encounter.” In the movie, Rocky Balboa is a club fighter from Philadelphia who takes on the reigning world heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), with the help of his trainer, Mickey (Burgess Meredith), and his love interest, Adrian (Talia Shire).

Stallone trained six hours a day for five months to don Rocky’s boxing gloves, popping vitamins and hitting the gym to develop his 46-inch chest and 16-inch biceps. Directed by John Avildsen and shot in 28 days on a $1 million budget, Rocky divided critics between raves and pans, but it became the sleeper hit of the year, making Stallone–who got 10 percent of the grosses–a rich man and a bona fide star. It was the first feature-length movie to employ the Steadicam, which was used primarily in the fight scenes and the scenes of Rocky running in Philadelphia during his training. Garrett Brown’s pioneering invention helped keep the moving camera steady to create a fluid, smooth shot. At the 1977 Academy Awards, Rocky was nominated in no fewer than 10 categories, including Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, and won three Oscars: Best Director, Best Picture and Best Film Editing. It also spawned five sequels, including Rocky II-V over the course of the 1980s and Rocky Balboa (2006).

Related Videos Rocky (1976) Pages: ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) Background Rocky (1976) is the phenomenally successful, uplifting, "sleeper" film that was filmed in a record twenty-eight days with a paltry budget of about $1 million, and ultimately grossed well over $100 million. [A notable observation is that this low-budget film was positioned between two early "blockbusters" - Spielberg's Jaws (1975) and Lucas' Star Wars (1977) .] Its screenwriter and major star, Sylvester Stallone, was an unbankable unknown at the time - an underdog actor/writer in the film industry (with 32 previously-rejected scripts) similar to the boxing 'bum' in the film. Stallone supposedly wrote the script for the sports comeback film over a three-day period. It was the third film production to use the new technology of the Steadi-cam, after Bound for Glory (1976) and Marathon Man (1976).

The main poster's tagline emphasized the lowly, simple-minded status of the working-class, Italian hero, who was a good-natured individual that lacked basic intelligence, but displayed gutsy, optimistic perseverance while fighting for his dignity: "His whole life was a million-to-one shot." In a self-fulfilling manner, the hulking actor persisted in demanding to be the film's star in a make-or-break deal, instead of letting the studio cast Robert Redford, Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds or James Caan. As a result, he would forever be convincingly typecast as the mono-syllabic, crude and boorish hero - albeit super-star. The action-packed, 'feel-good' crowd-pleasing story, shot mostly on location, tells of the rise of a small-time, has-been, underdog Philadelphia boxer against insurmountable odds in a big-time bout, with the emotional support of a shy, hesitant, loving girlfriend. The low-key film was a combination of On the Waterfront (1954) , Marty (1955) , and a fairy-tale, Cinderella rags-to-riches story.

It was also one of a string of 70s films featuring blue-collar, Italian-American characters, i.e., The Godfather films (1972, 1974), and Saturday Night Fever (1977). And this United Artists' feature reworked the fight film formula of many early Hollywood films (i.e., The Champ (1931), Golden Boy (1939), Body and Soul (1947), Champion (1949), The Set-Up (1949), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), and Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956 and 1962)). [Stallone claimed that he was inspired to base his "Rocky" character upon little-known, 36 year-old working-class New Jersey club boxer Chuck Wepner (the "Bayonne Bleeder"), who challenged Muhammad Ali in a heavy-weight title bout in March 1975 in Cleveland, Ohio, and went 15 rounds. Wepner was one of Ali's few challengers who knocked him down and went the entire distance - actually, up to 19 seconds before the final bell.

Years later in mid-November 2003, Wepner filed a questionable lawsuit claiming that he was entitled to compensation, $15 million, for the unauthorized 'rights of publicity' use of his name for selling and promoting the film.] Stallone had already appeared in small roles (some uncredited) - in Woody Allen's early comedy Bananas (1971) , Klute (1971), Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1974), The Lords of Flatbush (1974) in which he inaugurated his 'Rocky' street hood persona as Stanley Rosiello, in the film-noir re-make Farewell, My Lovely (1975), and in Roger Corman's Death Race 2000 (1975) as Machine-Gun Joe Viterbo.

[Stallone had also appeared in a soft-core pornography film Party at Kitty and Stud's (1970) that was re-released as The Italian Stallion (1976) to capitalize on his popularity.] Stallone's pre-Rocky script for Hell's Kitchen (a section of New York) was later produced and filmed as Paradise Alley (1978) - it marked Stallone's directorial debut in a film about the world of wrestling. The original Rocky film, from director John G. Avildsen, was the most accessible, popular and identifiable of the lot of Rocky films, and it packed movie houses. The million-to-one underdog film was awarded three Academy Awards from its ten nominations: Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture, and it beat out formidable competition for the top prize: All the President's Men, Bound For Glory, Network , and Taxi Driver - all excellent films about other aspects of the American experience.

Its other seven nominations included: Best Actor (Sylvester Stallone lost to Peter Finch in Network ), Best Actress (Talia Shire lost to Faye Dunaway in Network ), Best Supporting Actor (for 69 year old veteran star Burgess Meredith and Burt Young - both lost to Jason Robards in All the President's Men), Best Original Screenplay (Stallone lost to Paddy Chayefsky for Network ), Best Song, and Best Sound. [Ironically, Chayefsky won the screenwriting honors about twenty years earlier for Rocky's forerunner - the Best Picture-winning Marty (1955) .] [With Stallone's nominations for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, he joined only two others with the same pair of honors in the same year in Academy history: Charlie Chaplin (for The Great Dictator (1940)), and Orson Welles (for Citizen Kane (1941) ).] There were four successful, but predictable sequels or remakes, with Stallone, Shire, and Young returning for all of them. In each one, Rocky would ultimately meet his challenges and rise to the top.

Then Stallone directed a 6th film 16 years after the last in the regular series, Rocky Balboa (2006), and served as writer-producer-actor in a 7th film, Creed (2015). Rocky (1976) John G. Avildsen Rocky Balboa, the unknown underdog nicknamed the Italian Stallion, boxes the heavyweight champion of the world Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) and unbelievably 'goes the distance' under the direction of wily fight manager Mickey (Burgess Meredith). An upstart film that won Best Picture against heavy odds: Network , Taxi Driver , and All the President's Men. Box Office (domestic): $117.2 million Rocky II (1979) Sylvester Stallone Features a rematch between Rocky (now married to Adrian (Talia Shire)) and his nemesis Apollo Creed - with Rocky triumphant; considered a very similar film to the first in the series.

Box Office (domestic): $85.2 million Rocky III (1982) Sylvester Stallone Three years after the second film, aging Rocky has successfully defended his title many times and become wealthy; he considers retirement but fights a new challenger Clubber Lang (Mr. 'T') for the title, loses, and then prepares for a rematch; former rival Creed becomes his trainer after former trainer Mickey dies in this film - terrorized by Lang into a heart attack; also in an early scene includes a charity fight between Rocky and professional wrestler Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan). Box Office (domestic): $124.1 million Rocky IV (1985) Sylvester Stallone A film with lots of Cold War rhetoric, Rocky trains in Siberia (under the guidance of Creed's former manager (Tony Burton)) and boxes the seemingly-unbeatable Soviet Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) - a hulking blonde fighter with his spokesman/wife Ludmilla (Brigitte Nielsen), to avenge the death of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) who was killed during an earlier 'exhibition match' in the ring with Drago.

Box Office (domestic): $127.9 million Rocky V (1990) John G. Avildsen After poor financial management and a brain-damaged career as a boxer after fighting Drago, Rocky suffers bankruptcy, retires, moves back to his South Philadelphia urban-blighted neighborhood, and trains up-and-coming heavyweight boxer Tommy "Machine" Gunn (real life boxer Tommy Morrison) in Mickey's old gym; Rocky is ultimately forced into a street brawl/match with his former protege after the arrogant fighter won the heavyweight championship from Union Cane (Micheal Williams) and was manipulatively prodded by Don King-like promoter George Washington Duke (Richard Gant) to challenge true champ Rocky; Mickey reappears in flashbacks as Rocky's spiritual guide.

Box Office (domestic): $40.9 million Additional Rocky Films in Franchise Rocky Balboa (2006) Sylvester Stallone Actor/director Stallone starred as the aged, retired, and bloated title character - the owner of a Philadelphia-area restaurant named Adrian's (after his wife who died of cancer); he was lured back to the ring (a charity exhibition match in Las Vegas) after watching himself win a virtual boxing match (an ESPN computer simulation) between his younger incarnation and the current heavyweight champion Mason "The Line" Dixon (real-life light-heavyweight boxer Antonio Tarver); the film featured regulars Burt Young as brother-in-law pal Paulie and Tony Burton as Duke - the only actors along with Stallone to appear in all 6 films; Geraldine Hughes played Marie from the original film, and Milo Ventimiglia played Rocky's now-adult son Robert (Rocky Balboa, Jr.); the film returned to its modest, self-deprecating low-budget roots and earned generally positive reviews.

Box Office (domestic): $70.3 million Creed (2015) Ryan Coogler Upstart boxing progeny of Rocky Balboa's late rival Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), born-out-of-wedlock underdog Adonis "Donnie" Creed (Mchael B. Jordan) is coached by retired Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Both Rocky's brother-in-law Paulie and wife Adrian have since died. Creed's opponent in the ring is undefeated boxing champion "Pretty" Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew). [Note: Apollo Creed died in a boxing match in Rocky IV (1985).] Box Office (domestic): $79.3+ million The Story The first film opens with a screen of black - and then in giant white letters, the word ROCKY moves across from right to left accompanied by Bill Conti's memorable, dynamically-triumphant fanfare (Rocky's Theme song: "Gonna Fly" - that topped the Billboard charts in the first week of July 1977).

November 25, 1975 (Tuesday) The boxing film is book-ended by two contrasting matches in Philadelphia - the first low-paying bout is held in late 1975 in a dark arena between two heavyweights (both wearing dark trunks) who fight beneath a giant painting of Jesus. The lower-class fans boo both fighters for getting into a clinch, and continue to heckle the pair for the entire fight. During rounds, bull-necked Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone in his first starring role) is told by his cornerman: "You're waltzin' - give the sucker some action. (You're) fightin' like a bum." A fan asks the tired and plodding Rocky from the side whether he should bet that he will last the three rounds. Rocky's opponent, Spider Rico, purposely butts him with his head and opens up a bloody cut above his left eye, causing Rocky to get riled up. He attacks and ends the fight with a flurry of blistering punches. The ring is littered with rubbish as Rocky leaves.

He is called a "bum" by a disrespectful, angry female fan as he bums a cigarette from another spectator and enters the shabby locker-room. There, he puts on a tattered, tan-colored robe with the words "The Italian Stallion" sewn on the back in white letters. The fight's promoter distributes slim profits between Rocky and his opponent: Promoter (to Rocky's opponent): Forty dollars, less fifteen dollars locker and cornerman, five dollars shower and towel, seven percent tax, comes to $17.20. You fought a good fight, Spider. Promoter (to Rocky): ...Sixty-five dollars, less fifteen dollars locker and cornerman, five dollars shower and towel, and seven percent tax, comes to $40.55. The credits continue to play, as Rocky Balboa, already labeled as a "bum," is portrayed in a series of vignettes as a simple-minded, hang-dog-eyed, inarticulate bum - a 30-year-old Philadelphia fighter who resorts to small, two-bit club bouts to make a meager living. He walks along a dark sidewalk littered with rubbish along the curb, while tossing and catching a small ball with one hand.

As he often does, he pauses at the window of a local pet shop to look and wave at a litter of puppies, passes his boxing gym across the street, and stops to say hello to (and swig from a wine bottle) a group of street-corner singers (one of whom is his brother, Frank Stallone, Jr.). He lives a lonely but simple life in a dingy, cramped, one-room, second-floor apartment (at the end of a row of similar brick apartments) in South Philly - in a deteriorating, bleak area of the city. He has rolled and propped up an old mattress (with stuffing showing) to serve as a punching bag. His only company is a 45 rpm record player (that he flips on), his pet turtles Cuff and Link, a tiny goldfish named Moby Dick, and a curling wall poster of heavyweight boxing idol Rocky Marciano. [All of these items reflect Rocky's dreams of grandeur and richness. Cuff-links are normally worn with fancy dress shirts, and Moby Dick is the largest of the creatures in the sea!

Rocky also idolizes another Rocky from an earlier era.] He jokes to the turtles about his poverty-stricken, disappointing existence: If you guys could sing or dance, I wouldn't be doin' this, you know? In front of a mirror, he practices telling a joke about the turtle food, and then takes a few ice cubes from his half-sized icebox and applies them to his badly-swollen, cut eye. (Wednesday, November 26, 1975) The next morning, wearing a black hat and leather jacket, he visits the pet shop again and politely speaks to the painfully-shy, 30 year old, dark-haired, gawky, and spectacled Adrian (Talia Shire) - the timid wall-flower clerk behind the counter. Flirting with her, he repeats the "bad" joke about the turtle food getting caught in his pets' throats, and how he has to hit them on their shells - making them "shell-shocked." But Adrian offers the thuggish customer little encouragement in return for his interest. Afterwards, he plays with Butkus (Stallone's own dog), a bull mastiff placed in a large cage.

His next stop is the waterfront area, where he walks by a group of mafioso types next to a car, and is asked: "Fightin' again?" As the strong-arm collections man for a local numbers racket, he intimidates one of the laborers to collect a two hundred dollar loan for his employer - loan shark Tom Gazzo (Joe Spinell). Terror-struck, Bob pleads for Rocky not to hit his face or break his thumb, as Rocky tells him (with another metaphor about 'singing and dancing'): You wanna dance, you gotta pay the band, you understand? If you wanna borrow, you gotta pay the man. Hey, I ain't emotionally involved, Bob, ya understand? Give us the money. Thinking for himself, and revealing his kindness and heart-of-gold sensitive side, Rocky accepts $130 in cash and takes a verbal IOU - it's "still seventy dollars light." He refuses to take the coat of the desperate man.

Bob suggests that he'll tape up his hand to fake that his thumb was broken, while Rocky walks away, advising: "You shoulda planned ahead." On a train trestle, Rocky is picked up in a car by Gazzo for the payoff (Rocky receives $20, a cut of the loan payment), and receives his next assignment to collect a 3-week late payment from Del Rio. Gazzo's driver/bodyguard Buddy asks the unsuspecting, dumb Rocky: Bodyguard: Did ya get the license number? Rocky: Of what? Bodyguard: The truck that run over your face. When Rocky is dropped off, he reasons that the debtor couldn't work to pay off the loan with broken thumbs. Gazzo warns him about not following orders: Gazzo: When you don't do what I tell you to do, you make me look bad, Rock. Rocky: I figure if, look, I figure if I break the guy's thumb, he gets laid off, right? He can't make no more money... Gazzo: Yeah, well, don't figure. Let me do the figurin'. OK, Rock? From here on, just let me do the figurin'. You know?

These guys think that we're runnin' some kind of charity or somethin', that they're gonna get off light. From here on in, do what I tell ya to do, because it's bad for my reputation. Ya understand? Film locations for Rocky (1976) Olympic Auditorium, 1801 South Grand Avenue at Olympic Boulevard (tel: 213.477.3253) Trivia See the Philadelphia Museum of Art masquerading as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in Brian De Palma ’s Dressed to Kill , and more of the city itself in the same director’s Blow Out The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a trusty standby for boxing and wrestling matches, in Ed Wood, Man On The Moon, Million Dollar Baby and Raging Bull Rocky location: The Rocky steps: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia In the year of Taxi Driver , All The President’s Men and Network, this old fashioned fairytale of the underdog coming out on top took Oscars for Best Film and Best Director. The main location you’ll want to see is, of course, the flight of 68 steps on which Rocky Balboa ( Sylvester Stallone ) trains.

They're northwest of downtown, and lead up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art , Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. From the top of the steps, look back along Benjamin Franklin Parkway to view the downtown skyline – with a few more highrises than were apparent in 1976. If you want to see the art gallery’s interior, see Brian De Palma ’s Dressed to Kill , where the gallery stands in for ‘New York’s’ Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rocky location: The end of the run: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia But although Rocky is set in Philadelphia , the film’s locations are split between the City of Brotherly Love and Los Angeles . Rocky’s neighbourhood is Kensington, north Philadelphia , where his apartment is 1818 East Tusculum Street. During training for his big break he runs past Philadelphia City Hall and through the Italian Market, Ninth Street between Federal and Christian Streets. Rocky location: Rocky trains: the Italian Market, Ninth Street, Philadelphia The opening boxing match, though, with the religious mural overlooking the ring, is in Los Angeles .

It’s the Oscar de la Hoya Boxing Youth Center, 1114 South Lorena Street in East Los Angeles . The press conference is held in the, since demolished, Ambassador Hotel, which stood at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard. Closed and shuttered for many years, it was used in its later years exclusively as a film set. Rocky works out by pounding sides of beef at Shamrock Meats Inc, 3461 East Vernon Avenue at Alcoa Avenue, just south of the Los Angeles River in Vernon, southeast of downtown Los Angeles . Rocky location: the big fight: Olympic Auditorium, 1801 South Grand Avenue, downtown Los Angeles The climactic fight itself, against Apollo Creed, is also in Los Angeles , at the Olympic Auditorium, 1801 South Grand Avenue at Olympic Boulevard, downtown. Built for the 1932 Olympics, the auditorium was used also for boxing scenes in Martin Scorsese ’s Raging Bull , Clint Eastwood ’s Million Dollar Baby and wrestling matches in Tim Burton ’s Ed Wood and Man on the Moon, with Jim Carrey as subversive comic Andy Kaufman.

Rocky (1976) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer, gets a supremely rare chance to fight heavy-weight champion Apollo Creed in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON TV a list of 30 titles created 22 Jul 2011 a list of 26 titles created 26 Jan 2014 a list of 43 titles created 13 Jul 2014 a list of 25 titles created 30 Oct 2014 a list of 25 titles created 8 months ago Search for " Rocky " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 3 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 21 nominations.

See more awards » Videos Rocky struggles in family life after his bout with Apollo Creed, while the embarrassed champ insistently goads him to accept a challenge for a rematch. Director: Sylvester Stallone After winning the ultimate title and being the world champion, Rocky falls into a hole and finds himself picked up by a former enemy. Director: Sylvester Stallone After iron man Drago, a highly intimidating 6-foot-5, 261-pound Soviet athlete, kills Apollo Creed in an exhibition match, Rocky comes to the heart of Russia for 15 pile-driving boxing rounds of revenge. Director: Sylvester Stallone Thirty years after the ring of the first bell, Rocky Balboa comes out of retirement and dons his gloves for his final fight; against the reigning heavyweight champ Mason 'The Line' Dixon. Director: Sylvester Stallone Reluctantly retired from boxing, and back from riches to rags, Rocky takes on a new protege who betrays him, as the champ's son must adjust to his family's new life after bankruptcy. Director: John G.

Avildsen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X A seemingly indestructible humanoid cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier from that war is sent to protect her at all costs. Director: James Cameron 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X A giant great white shark arrives on the shores of a New England beach resort and wreaks havoc with bloody attacks on swimmers, until a part-time sheriff teams up with a marine biologist and an old seafarer to hunt the monster down. Director: Steven Spielberg During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok. Director: Steven Spielberg Former Green Beret John Rambo is pursued into the mountains surrounding a small town by a tyrannical sheriff and his deputies, forcing him to survive using his combat skills.

Director: Ted Kotcheff The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. Director: Ryan Coogler John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save his wife Holly Gennaro and several others that were taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles. Director: John McTiernan When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge. Director: Ridley Scott Edit Storyline Rocky Balboa is a struggling boxer trying to make the big time, working as a debt collector for a pittance. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to set up an exhibition match between Creed and a struggling boxer, touting the fight as a chance for a "nobody" to become a "somebody". The match is supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone forgot to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big time.

Written by Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au> See All (117) » Taglines: A Philadelphia fighter who never made the big time...He showed he could take on a challenge...and won something bigger than a championship bout. See more » Genres: 3 December 1976 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Did You Know? Trivia This was the third movie in five years that Talia Shire was in that won Best Picture ( The Godfather (1972) & The Godfather: Part II (1974) were the other two). Joe Spinell was also in these three films as well. See more » Goofs When Rocky is boxing in the meat-packing plant, he is in an orthodox stance, not southpaw. See more » Quotes Butkus the dog is credited as "Butkus Stallone". See more » Connections (Tallahassee, FL) – See all my reviews One of Stallone's first and finest feature film performances is as Rocky Balboa, a lonely, small-time boxer who gets by doing muscle work for a neighborhood loan shark. Everything about his life spells "underdog"-- he's even left-handed.

He lives alone in a shabby apartment, and when he's not slowly being swept aside at the local gym, where even the trainer calls him a bum, he fauns over an introverted pet store clerk named Adrian. He gets his first break when he's chosen at random by heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed, to take a shot at his title. No one thinks he can beat Creed-- not even Rocky. All Rocky wants is to be able to go all ten rounds with the champ, because no one else has. And in the final ten minutes of the film, Rocky finds out just how far he can go. What's terrific about this movie is that it's about Rocky. It's not about winning; it's not even about fighting. It's about Rocky and his desire to get by in the world without being a bum. The sequels to this widely popular film have focused more heavily on the upcoming fight, whereas this story focuses on Rocky's life. He doesn't want to win; he just wants to survive and feel good about himself. That's what most of us want, and that's why this film is a classic. 99 of 131 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes Rocky: Behind the Scenes Rocky (1976) | Making Of Rocky Trivia THE MAKING OF THE ORIGINAL ROCKY (1976) The story of how the original Rocky was initially conceived and then brought to the screen rivals any plot ever hatched for a movie. It’s creator, Sylvester Stallone remembers, “Early in my acting career I realized the only way I would ever prove myself was to create my own role in my own script. On my 29th birthday I had $106 in the bank. My best birthday present was a sudden revelation that I had to write the kind of screenplay that I personally enjoyed seeing. I relished stories of heroism, great love, dignity, and courage, dramas of people rising above their stations, taking life by the throat and not letting go until they succeeded.” “But I had so many ideas in my head I couldn’t focus on any one. To cheer myself up, I took the last of my entertainment money and went to see the Muhammad Ali – Chuck Wepner fight on closed circuit TV. Wepner, a battling, bruising club fighter who had never made the big time, was having his shot.

It wasn’t at all regarded as a serious battle. But as the fight progressed, this miracle unfolded. He hung in there. People went absolutely crazy. Wepner went 15 rounds and established himself as one of the few ever to go the distance with the great Ali. We had witnessed an incredible triumph of the human spirit and we loved it.” ROCKY BALBOA IS BORN “That night,” Sly continues, “Rocky Balboa was born. He is a man of the streets. People looked on him as the all-American tragedy, a man without much mentality and few social graces. But he has deep emotion and spirituality and good patriotism. And he has a good nature, although nature has not been particularly good to him. I have always seen him as a 20th Century gladiator in a pair of sneakers. Like so many of us, he is out of sync with the times.

To all this, I injected doses of my own personal life, of my frustration at not getting anywhere.” Going on a three-and-a-half day writing marathon, he produced a screenplay that ultimately reached the active and experienced producing team of Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, knowledgeable filmmakers who, at the time, had already brought more than 25 films to the screen. They instantly sensed the magic in Stallone’s work, asked for a few rewrites and the negotiating began with a reported $75,000 offer. WHO’S GOING TO PLAY ROCKY? “I can’t sell it outright,” the almost penniless writer-actor explained. “I wrote it for me and I have to do it.” According the now familiar story, the price went up to $125,000. “I got a monumental headache,” Stallone recalls. “I didn’t know that much money existed. They kept insisting they needed a big name star, but the story was about not selling out, about having faith in yourself, about going the distance as a million-to-one shot.” The actors in consideration for the role were huge box-office draws: Burt Reynolds, James Caan, and Ryan O’Neal.

Stallone refused to sell unless Winkler allowed him to star – a longshot gamble that worked, and helped establish the million-to-one ethos that infused the entire production. When the bid topped $300,000, Stallone said, “I would sooner burn the thing than have anyone else play Rocky Balboa. Not for a million dollars.” Finally, a deal was made between Stallone, Chartoff-Winkler Productions, and United Artists. “It was a gamble, and a labor of love, with everyone taking much less than their regular salaries.” FILMING BEGINS IN PHILADLPHIA January 9, 1976. A 28 day shoot. In a few months, the unknown actor was in Philadelphia, ready to start shooting what would be his first starring role, in a movie whose budget matched his lowly status. “I walked out of the trailer the first time in those cold streets of Philadelphia , they said, ‘Sylvester, are you ready?’ And I said, ‘No, but Rocky is.'” For Stallone, the shoot was as tough as Rocky’s 15 rounds with Apollo Creed.

“We didn’t have the money to shoot a normal union film at that time in Philadelphia, so we would travel in a van,” he says, and the film crew would jump out whenever director John Avildsen saw a colorful location. They were working with a new tool – Garrett Brown’s experimental Steadicam, enabling them to shoot moving objects in an exciting new way. “John has me going up and down steps, through these curved corridors along the river,” Stallone said. “One thing about John is that he would use the environment. We’d see a ship along the river and he’d tell me to ‘jump out and run as fast as you can.'” The training sequence, pulled together from sites all over the city, looks funny to Philadelphians, who recognize that it takes Rocky over a course of some 20 miles in a few minutes. To general audiences, though, the scene is a visual marvel – the Steadicam tracking shots were brand new, and Rocky’s journey is a sprint through an urban landscape that is uniquely Philadelphia – gritty, quaint, industrial, modern, colonial, and finally, atop the Art Museum steps , even beautiful.

All backed by one of the great movie scores – Bill Conti’s classy brass sound , gladiatorial and stirring. The sequence is also enlivened by hundreds of ordinary Philadelphians, contributing spontaneous cameos. “He would have me. . .running down the street and people are throwing things at me. I had the orange thrown at me and people had no idea who I was. I was just some strange alien invader in a well-worn, tattered, baggy, incredibly ugly sweat suit running through their neighborhood, and they’re throwing things at me,” he said. The movie had a budget of less than $950,000 and ran out of money quickly. A scene that was meant to feature 300 extras at an ice rink (when Rocky takes Adrian ice skating ) ended up with Stallone and Talia Shire alone on the ice. And when Stallone admitted he couldn’t skate, he jogged gingerly alongside Shire, in what turned out to be one of the movie’s most touching scenes.

ROCKY: THE ORIGINAL ENDING In the end, there was just enough film left for a final re-shoot of the ending, originally intended as just a long shot of Rocky and Adrian leaving an empty stadium hand in hand – an iconic image which ultimately became the shot used for the promotional posters. The film footage of the original ending was tragically destroyed by fire with no trace left for history but for several rare still photographs captured of these moments at the time of the filming. The unforgettable “Adrian!” “Rocky!” “Adrian!” finale was actually a last-minute addition, and there were so few people left that friends and crew had to crowd one corner of the ring to feign the appearance of a large mob passing back and forth in front of the camera. There was no need to conjure up fake mob scenes when the movie opened.

Test screenings showed that audiences loved the picture, and the crude promotional trailers released to the public created nationwide buzz around the little movie that could – “a movie for every nobody who ever needed somebody.” OSCAR WINNER FOR BEST PICTURE The little below-radar movie, shot out of the back of a van on the streets of Philadelphia, was a monster hit ($117 million in bicentennial dollars), and an unlikely nominee for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. On Oscar night, Rocky was a long shot again, against the favored Taxi Driver, Network and All the President’s Men, movies that captured New York and Washington, D.C., just as resonantly as Rocky captured Philadelphia. And Rocky not only went the distance, it won. “I know I’ll never have a voice like that again, where I can just speak whatever I feel in my heart,” Stallone says.

“That’s one thing I’ll always cherish about that character, because if I say it you won’t believe it, but when Rocky says it, you know it’s the truth.” Rocky (1976) Pages: ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) The Story (continued) In the most memorable sequence of the film, a montage accompanied by the rousing song "Gonna Fly" (by Bill Conti), Rocky undergoes further grueling training and workouts. At dawn, he sprints beneath an overhead train, makes another run through the City of Brotherly Love's streets and marketplaces, punches a bag, does one-armed pushups, takes punches to his mid-section, executes endless situps, pounds more slabs of beef, and sprints along the city's waterway. He dashes (and flies) up the endless steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, taking many steps with each leap. He turns and faces the panorama of the city, with his hands triumphantly raised in the air. Although his first run up the endless steps was overwhelmingly difficult, this run is effortless.

The cover story "Italian Stallion" in TEMPO Magazine (red-bordered like Time Magazine) displays his fighting stance. The night before the fight, Rocky visits the deserted Philadelphia Spectrum, the setting for the Bicentennial bout. He climbs up into the ring, lined with thick red ropes, and stares at the two gigantic posters of the combatants facing each other at opposite ends. The arena is lined with red, white, and blue decorations and an American flag to accentuate the patriotic theme. Jergens is surprised to see him, especially when Rocky notes the inaccuracy of the color of his trunks (red pants with a white stripe) on his poster. His remark about the detailed oversight is ignored by Jergens - Rocky isn't taken seriously: Rocky: Mr. Jergens, the poster's wrong. Jergens: What do ya mean? Rocky: Well, I'm wearin' white pants with a red stripe. Jergens: It doesn't really matter, does it? I'm sure you're gonna give us a great show. Try to get some rest, kid. Back with Adrian in his apartment, he sits on the edge of the bed and then lies next to her.

With jitters, doubts and misgivings, he confesses to her that he can't win and beat Apollo, but then explains his ultimate goals for the fight - to go the distance to prove that he isn't just a "bum from the neighborhood": Who am I kiddin'? I ain't even in the guy's league...It don't matter, 'cause I was nobody before...I was nobody. That don't matter either, ya know...It really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed. And if I can go that distance, ya see, and that bell rings, ya know, and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, ya see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood. January 1, 1976 The night of the big fight arrives. Rocky's left hand is wrapped in tape in the locker room, as Adrian looks on. Preparations are also being made in Creed's dressing room. Vaseline is applied under the eyes.

Nasal drops are sprayed into the fighters' nostrils to enhance their oxygen intake. Wearing a bright red robe with yellow hood and lining (and emblazoned on the back ITALIAN STALLION), Rocky kneels to pray in the bathroom. When it is time to enter the arena, Adrian promises to wait in the locker room for him. Rocky jokes that she shouldn't leave town while he's gone, and then asks: "Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it." One of the ring commentators speaks to the camera: "The electricity is all over the place tonight as Rocky Balboa....could be 'The Caveman against the Cavalier'." As Rocky moves toward the ring, Mickey asks him about the name of Paulie's meat-packing plant (Shamrock Meats, Inc.) sewn on the back of his robe, and he responds: "Paulie gets three grand, I get the robe." As Rocky enters the arena, Paulie complains to him about the costly $200 baggy robe.

The announcer describes Rocky's dismal chances as he approaches closer to the ring: "A fifty-to-one underdog living a Cinderella story, but he's captured people's imaginations all over the world...And his record 44 victories - he's had 38 by knock-out, and he's lost 20 bouts." Speculation and Las Vegas odds say he hasn't the "stamina and the skill" to last more than three rounds. The world heavyweight, show-boating champion Creed enters the Bicentennially-decorated ring with tremendous fanfare, dressed up in a George Washington wig and period costume and riding in a boat - supposedly impersonating the famous President who crossed the Delaware. Another of Creed's silly ideas is to toss silver dollars to the crowd. Once inside the ring, he reveals an Uncle Sam outfit while pointing and gesturing to the crowd and Rocky: "I Want You!" - a mockery of the famous US recruiting poster for WWI. "I want the Stallion," he taunts as he predicts finishing the bout in three rounds. With Bill Conti's trumpeted theme song, a microphone descends into the center of the ring for announcements from Jergens.

Gazzo sits in the crowd with a blonde next to him, and Paulie also has a pretty date (Kathleen Parker) holding his arm at ringside. Former heavyweight "Smoking Joe" Frazier (Himself) is brought into the ring, where he advises Rocky: "Don't hurt him, OK? Go light on him." He also play-boxes with Creed, revealing that they're "friends." Introductions are made for the main event: "the challenger wearing white trunks, weighing one hundred and ninety pounds, Philadelphia's favorite son, 'The Italian Stallion,' Rocky Balboa" "wearing red, white, and blue, weighing two hundred and ten pounds, undefeated in forty-six fights, the 'Master of Disaster,' the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, Apollo Creed" After the referee covers the rules in the center of the ring, the much-anticipated bout begins. Determined, Rocky proves his worth in the ring for the title fight, in the fast-paced, highly-choreographed, exciting boxing match. In round one, Creed dances around and executes quick jabs at the slower challenger.

The commentator notes that "Rocky was blocking the blows with his face." The Champion smiles and "toys" with his "outclassed" opponent until he is knocked flat to the canvas by a tremendous, upswinging, crushing left hook to Creed's jaw - his legendary southpaw punch. The disbelieving Champion is up after a standing count, but he would have been defeated if Rocky had immediately proceeded to his neutral corner. For the remainder of the round, the Champion fights more effectively by delivering multiple punches, but so does Rocky as he pounds combinations into Creed's mid-section and electrifies the crowd. Just before the bell rings, Creed breaks Rocky's nose. In Rocky's corner, Mickey notes: "Your nose is broke" but then quips: "Ah, it's an improvement." Mickey also tells Rocky: "Go for the ribs. Don't let that bastard breathe." Duke tells his man to quit playing around and showing off - it's not an exhibition match: "I wantcha to stick and move...He doesn't know it's a damn show. He thinks it's a damn fight. Now finish this bum and let's go home." In the second round, both fighters deliver barrages of lightning-fast punches and jabs.

Rocky doesn't give up, but concentrates on hitting Creed's body and pounding him with ferocious counter-punches. A series of quick montages dissolve from round to round in the match that goes for fifteen grueling, punishing rounds. From various long-shot and closeup angles, the sounds of gloves striking their targets are magnified with grunts, commentary from ringside, and crowd noises. With his face swelling and bloody, a stubborn Rocky falters but doesn't give up ("What is keeping him up?" asks a commentator), while the battered Creed is stunned that the challenger refuses to fall or acknowledge being beaten. In the 14th round, Rocky is sent to the canvas, but he crawls to his corner and manages to pull himself up with the ropes. Ignoring Mickey's pleading "Down! Down! Stay down!", he manages to pull himself up with the ropes. And with a new burst of tenacious energy, he pounds Creed's ribs and sides with body punches as the bell rings. For the first time, Adrian creeps into the arena and watches in painful dismay. In Rocky's corner before the 15th and final round, the boxer begs Mickey to cut open his swollen eye so he can see ("Cut me").

In the champion's corner, Duke suggests stopping the fight, but Apollo refuses ("You ain't stoppin' nothin', man"). In a parallel shot, Rocky tells Mickey, "You stop this fight, I'll kill you!" In the middle of the ring, the two combatants circle around each other before unleashing more blows. Creed protects his right side and injured ribs until Rocky finds an opening and assaults his opponent's mid-section. As the bell rings, Creed appears unconscious on the ropes, but he survives the flurry of blows when time runs out. As they hang exhausted on each other, they barely have enough energy to speak: Creed: Ain't gonna be no rematch. Rocky: Don't want one. Although he originally meant to go the distance, the self-respecting Rocky proves that he is more than a born loser and "another bum." Unable to see, he is surrounded by hordes of questioning reporters and interviewers, but he shows little concern about the fight's outcome. All he can do is shout for Adrian. His calls for her are drowned out by the eruptions from the crowd. Adrian calls back to Rocky as she struggles to reach ringside.

She plunges headlong into the sea of people, as Jergens puts words to the monumental fight: "the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the ring." Rocky narrowly loses a split decision (the decision is difficult to hear, but it appears that two judges vote for the champ and one for Rocky) and the champ barely retains his title. Creed, who predicted an effortless victory, never could have expected the outcome. To provide perspective, the importance of the actual outcome of the fight is deliberately muted and in the background, emphasizing the profundity of the moral victory Rocky achieved by "going the distance" against overwhelming odds. In the confusion following the fight, Adrian finally reaches Rocky - the real and true champion - in the ring, and she exclaims: "I love you." He lovingly hugs and embraces her and declares his own love for her: "I love you!" As they lovingly hug each other in a locking grip, they continue declaring their love for each other. As they celebrate their victory in the face of defeat, the final, heart-lifting image freeze-frames on Rocky's swollen, messy and battered face next to Adrian's.

Question: In which city was the first of the 'Rocky' films shot?
Answer: PHILADELPHIA